Sad News, John Pearse passes.
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- Rated: 57 ↑
Oct 31, 2008 8:20 p.m. Curt:
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Oct 31, 2008 9:14 p.m. Proteus:
Thanks for the link, Curt. John Pearse have been my favorite acoustic strings since the mid-80s, but I've never known anything about the man himself, his impressive history in string-making, or any of his other activities and accomplishments.
He seems to have been a gentle kingly fellow, much beloved by friends and family, and certainly left the world better than he found it for musicians.
I should have known something about him before.
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Oct 31, 2008 10:24 p.m. dubkitty:
and he looks so huggable!
OK, that sounds stupid, but just look at the picture...doesn't he look like someone you're sad to hear is dead even if you know absolutely nothing of him? in the same way i believe you can know a lot about a person by the listening to the way they play, there are some people whose personality leaps out of the photo frame at you. i'll bet he was an absolute hoot to have a couple of pints with, and that you'd always go home happier after.
also, he made the best damned acoustic guitar strings on Earth...ever since David Rea turned me onto them back around 1985 i've only ever used other brands when i couldn't find the JPs. like i said to Burch the other day, they last twice as long (by which i mean "hold their tone") as any other acoustic strings on the market.
what really blows my mind is that he did "Cooking with Wine" on PBS...there are probably people grieving his death who don't even know he was involved in music just as i didn't know he did cooking shows and books. now, that's a life of accomplishment.
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Oct 31, 2008 11:06 p.m. bwallace1:
yeah, thanks for the link, Curt. I've been using his strings for a few years now myself. like dubkitty said, they do seem to last longer. they're good strings.
brent
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Oct 31, 2008 11:52 p.m. Timthom62:
Sad news indeed.
I've been using John Pearse strings for my Blues acoustics for over twenty years now and dubkitty is absolutely right - they last twice as long as anything else I've tried.
When I was first introduced to them, I was given the phone number to order them by a friend (which is how things went in those dark, pre-internet days).
When I called and ordered, I asked the person on the other end: "Just who is John Pearse anyway?" (Having no idea other than he apparently made strings.)
The person on the other end of the phone said something like: "He's a musician and a musical genius, an inventor and a dreamer, a world-class chef, etc.,etc." Making him sound like the reincarnation of Jefferson, Edison and several others all wrapped up in one person.
Finally the truth dawned on me and I said: "This is John Pearse, isn't it?"
He replied: "Yeah, how did you guess?"
His wit and humor and his obvious love for what he did impressed me then and still does today.
The loss of anyone in the musical community diminishes us, but the loss of some more so than others.
